How many debates are had on the internet, yet how beneficial are they?

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Actually, I think many debates on the internet are very beneficial because they expose the truth in what we say and the Baatil in what they say.

Abuz Zubair, for example, spends a lot of time online, but I do not think that this is a "waste of time" but rather it is a very good usage of time. Because of his site and forum, I was guided to the right Aqeedah. And how many others were guided to the truth because of him and the time he spends?

See, I just don't buy the argument that the internet wastes time. It's not like most of us spend time on the internet at the expense of our Salah, Dhikr, etc. If we didn't spend that time on the internet, it is likely we'd spend that time doing something like watching television, chatting with friends, sleeping, etc.

There is only so much Salah, Dhikr, etc. that most of us can do in a day. And yes, it would be right to say that we should do more of that. But it's not like we are not doing that because of the internet. If it wasn't the internet, we'd find other things to do other than Salah, Dhikr, etc.

So it is not really the question of internet vs. Salah, but rather it is the question between internet vs. television. It's how we spend our free time (i.e. the time we choose to relax). Instead of choosing to use our spare time to do non-Islamic oriented things, we at least choose to spend that time in discussing religious matters.

I think many people have an inaccurate picture of the internet. They view it with contempt and think that we should not waste time with it. I had a discussion with Shaykh Abu Salman about this, and he said that these people are like those who looked down on the car because they were too used to horses. What he meant to say was that the internet is the new medium and nothing you can do can prevent that. You might choose to live in the dark ages, but that doesn't change the reality on the ground, which is that the internet is the source people go to.

Quite literally, I think we should "colonize" the internet with our "propaganda". We should have "propaganda machines" on the internet...I think that we should actually have people who are paid to surf the internet and post on forums, to refute the heretics, to do dawah, etc. I think that the Islamic effort on the internet needs to be upgraded, not minimized.

Regardless of what you think--or how much your Shaykh looks down upon the internet--the ground reality is that Joe Bloggs will log onto the internet to seek information/knowledge. You might think that this sucks, but that's the fact. Nothing you can do can prevent this. Therefore, when Joe Bloggs logs on, imagine his reaction when he sees attacks upon Islam and no rebuttals from the Muslims.

I think we are in an ideological war, and the internet is the battleground. I also think that the scholars have neglected this new battlefield and therefore it is up to others to shoulder this burden until the scholars take over.

If Muslims will keep looking down upon the internet, a time will come when they will finally realize that "oh crap, we've really shot ourselves in the butt for ignoring this medium". Ignoring the internet will very much destroy the Islamic dawah. Right now there is a war of ideas going on, between the Orientalist propaganda machine and the Islamic "propaganda machine". And if they use the internet and we refuse to use it, then the analogy of this is an army of people using sticks and stones (us Muslims) against tanks and fighter jets (them).

The internet is like fast food; it's fast info. Yes, the quality might suck oftentimes, just like fast food. But that doesn't change the fact that most people will go to fast food over and above the nicer restaurants. I remember watching a news program on France, and they were talking about how American fast food chains were taking over France, and the local French restaurant owners were upset over how the "crappy" fast food chains were taking over their business, even though they themselves had fancy French cuisine. These restaurant owners can complain all they want, but it won't change the reality: when people want food, they go to a fast food place. Likewise, when people want information about Islam or anything else, the average guy will go to the internet. So the question is: will the Muslims be there for him on the internet or not?

When Joe Bloggs asks "does Islam condone terrorism" and he googles it, do you want him to get hits from Faith Freedom, Answering Islam, etc,,, or do you want hits from Islamic sites that refute these allegations?

In regards to debates between Muslims, well let's look at those. Just a few years ago, the Salafis had complete dominance on the internet vs the Sufis, because the former had a strong internet campaign whereas the latter group was non-responsive for a long time. Then the latter group (i.e. the Sufis) realized this imbalance (a recent realization in the last couple years), so they've now invested a lot of energy/time to "even out the odds"...and you will find that the phenomenal growth of the Salafi dawah has now started to plateau (although this may shift again as the Salafis respond in kind)...

It's much like an arms race. If your opponent responds, then your lack of a response will constitute a defeat. (Unless your opponents response was very lackluster.) But usually, due to half-quotes and tampering, the opponents are always able to confuse the average layperson, so it becomes necessary for the standard bearers of the truth to give a response to clear up these matters and expose the falseness in their ways.

So yes, I agree that if you are spending your Salah time on the internet, then that's wrong. But if you are spending your television time on the internet, then that's great because the internet is the new battleground and we need intellectual warriors to raise the standard of Islam.